Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle

I suppose that it is long past time I talked about how I've been managing to nerd out lately. When I managed to get my hands on a PS4 and played the shit out of Dragon Ball Xenoverse I thought my life was pretty much complete. Then I basically finished that game and I felt a bit of a hole open up inside me. An emptiness. A nothingness. It was a deep and dark hole that only something fantastically nerdy could satisfy. 

With Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 still a few months away and Pokemon Go falling off the radar for me I had few places I could turn to. So I started looking at my phone and downloaded a game called Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle.

The game has been around for a while and there are two versions of it. A lot of internet folks play the Japanese version of it, but I don't know how to do that so I've been playing the "global" version. Unfortunately the global version is a couple of months behind the Japanese version so there are a lot of kickass characters that won't be available for quite a while. 

But until I can figure out how to play the Japanese version on android I am basically stuck with the global version.

The game is simple enough in that you play different stages with different characters and you have to line up colored orbs to level up your attacks. Your attacks get high enough and you get to beat your opponent. And when you beat your opponent you get the chance for some sweet drops. 

Of course, you get the chance to get much stronger characters throughout the game and play in a lot of different stages. You get power boosts from training and items and clearing levels and you get zeni from selling characters you no longer need and clearing levels. 

The summoning is probably the funnest (and most frustrating) aspect of the game, though. 

Basically, you use five dragon stones (which you can get from the game in a variety of ways including using actual money to buy them) for a single summon under any banner you choose or up to fifty stones for a "multi-summon." Multi-summons get you ten characters and a single summon only gets you one. 

RNG plays a huge factor, though. SSR's are the goal for the game. SSR meaning super super rare. So you really won't get many of those and if you do get one it probably won't be the one you want. Any SSRs are typically good unless you are insanely high leveled and have a ton of them already. SR's are okay, but some might be pretty useless depending on what deck you are trying to build. R's are pretty much all garbage except for a select few characters than you can use in certain ways if you really, really want to. 

And N's are bullshit you can use to train your stronger characters. Or sell them to Baba's Shop. Whatever. 

I had a successful day with three of these SSR's being new hauls. And I really, really wanted that Majin Vegeta, too. So I'm really happy. 

I've also been evolving some other cards and I am hoping to "Dokkan Awaken" another. Dokkan Awakening takes quite a bit of grinding because you first have win medals to "Z-Awaken" a character and then you have to win different medals to "Dokkan" them. All while making sure the character you are trying to power up is maxed out. That means training them up with "Friend Summons."

So there's quite a bit of patience involved when it comes to getting the characters you want, maxing them out, and creating the right team. And some of the bad guys can be really tough. The Broly one is brutally hard. So getting your team is half the battle. Winning the game is the other. 

I've been playing this game way too much. After 26 consecutive days I'm level 40 and I have two URs and and ten SSR's in my deck. Of my 51 characters only one is a rare and any N's I come across are training bait. 

I'm still learning the game and I am trying not to have to spend money to keep a steady flow of dragon stones going. It is hard though. You can earn dragon stones by beating levels but sometimes the levels are so hard you use dragon stones for a chance to revive to keep battering the enemy. So you could spend three stones to revive, but only get one stone if you win. 

So playing smart is important. Don't waste stones like that unless you really have to. Because if you don't have stones you can't summon and build your team. 

Anyway, it is a neat little game and an addicting one if you don't mind playing on your phone. It helps me take my mind off of the depressing circumstances surrounding my life. 

I'll see you next time.